The church of Via Santa Margherita, already mentioned in 1302, was the parish of many Florentine families, such as Cerchi, Donati, Adimari and Portinari. It was the church in which the family of Beatrice, the Portinari, had their own graves, and for this reason today you can see the tombstone of Folco Portinari, the father of Dante's muse. Santa Margherita is also considered the "church of Dante", where perhaps he married Gemma Donati. It is also said that at the age of just nine years old Dante saw for the first time his beloved Beatrice.The church is a small and simple building. The altar preserves a precious painting by Neri di Bicci (second half of 1400). In the church you can see a plaque dedicated to Beatrice Portinari. It seems to be a fake, because, being married to Bardi, the grave should have been placed in the tomb of Bardi, the family of her husband, in Santa Croce. In any case, it is a place of great tourist attraction, where usually lovers leave a letter next to the memorial plaque of Beatrice.

This museum owes its fame to the extraordinary collection of works by Michelangelo. Besides a collection of XIII-XVI century Florentine painting, there is also a collection of plaster casts and another of Russian icons. The gallery was established in 1784 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, who wanted to ...

According to lore, it was here at this church, at the age of nine, that Dante first laid eyes on Beatrice Portinari—the woman with whom he fell in love at first sight, and for whom his heart ached his entire life.